ASA RELEASES LIST OF NATIONAL ATHLETES

A total of 77 individuals have been included in the latest list of “national athletes” released by Athletics South Africa (ASA) on Tuesday.

According to the ASA constitution, athletes earn national status by representing the country at the Olympic Games, the IAAF World Championships or the 100km World Championships, or by earning a gold medal for a top-10 finish at the Comrades Marathon ultra-distance race in KwaZulu-Natal.

National athletes hold a number of “rights”, according to the federation’s constitution, including a pass to run for any club in the country, foregoing provincial boundaries placed on other athletes, as well as the clearance to run in ASA-approved kit with sponsors’ branding and the right to “negotiate” prize money and appearance fees at ASA events.

While national status was limited to active senior athletes who were preparing for major international championships, former elite distance runner Kanie Simons remained in the latest list of 79 athletes, though it was likely his name should have been transferred to an updated list of 270 “legend athletes” who had retired from elite senior competition.

Riana van Niekerk, who passed away from cancer earlier this year, was also listed, though her name too belonged among the “legend” athletes.

The final group consisted of 52 men and 25 women, represented by 22 ultra-distance runners, 14 sprinters, nine middle-distance track athletes, eight hurdlers, eight marathon runners, six jumpers, five throwers, four walkers and one decathlete.

Among the list of athletes was former Olympic long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena, who seemingly announced his retirement after the Rio Games last month but went on to compete at the World Challenge meeting in Berlin last week.

Former World Championships discus throw finalist Victor Hogan, who was fighting his two-year sanction in an attempt to prove his innocence, claiming he had ingested a contaminated supplement after testing positive for methylhexaneamine in April, was also among the national athletes, as was ultra-distance runner Joseph Mphuthi who was banned from competition until April 2017 after testing positive for nandrolone.List of ASA national athletes (as of September 2016):Men
Akani Simbine (100m)